The last week in January the nice weather returned. I had to take a day off to run some errands with my daughter, which gave me the opportunity for a spot of midweek cycling and a visit to the beach. And towards the end of the week we had a couple of events at the office–and of course Friday was the last day of the UK’s membership of the European Union, a sad day for all of us.
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The week started, as usual, with a Sunday morning bike ride, to the village of Verdegás and then on to Agost, a nice and relatively easy 55 km or so. Verdegás is a very small place, and I did not see any of the human inhabitants during my short break there, but the resident cats were dignified and enjoyed the sunshine as cats do:
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Agost is a bigger place, but on this late Sunday morning it was fairly empty as well:
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It is citrus fruit season now in our part of Spain, whether in the large orange groves south of Alicante or just decorative orange trees like this one, in the very centre of Agost:
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The town had celebrated its first fiesta after Christmas during the preceding week, in honour of Virgen de la Paz (“Our Lady of the Peace” would be a reasonable translation):
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On Sunday afternoon, I drove to the harbour of El Campello to have a beer in one of the bars there and to walk around a bit in the afternoon sunshine:
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People and dogs were out and about, some still dressed for the winter:
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…while others were already in spring mode:
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I was happy to see that the harbour kitties were around:
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A young couple fishing elicited this cat’s interest:
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They were having good luck–I saw them catch two decent-sized fish within 10 minutes or less:
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Staying with the fish theme, on Wednesday I had to take care of some administrative stuff at our town hall with my daughter Monica. While walking there, we passed this almost hole-in-the-wall fish shop. It is very unusual to see a dog inside a food store–it is strictly forbidden here, except of course for seeing-eye dogs. I guess this fishmonger considers his shop to be halfway outside, so he lets what I imagine is a regular customer get away with it:
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Formalities done, we went to a beach café for a coffee:
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As always, we enjoyed watching the passers-by, two-legged and four-legged:
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In late afternoon I took a bike ride, passing this line of people fishing on the beach in El Campello. As someone who does his fishing in the fish counter of the supermarket, I only vaguely understood that it must be related to the bad weather we had earlier in the month. Indeed, a co-worker explained to me that the storms of last week had driven lots of fish closer to the shore, making it easier to get a good catch:
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Once up in the hills, I stopped for some close-ups of the almond flowers:
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On the way home, I came across this flock of goats and sheep on the way home from pasture. They live on a farm next to the N332 road, perhaps 1 km from this spot. I always get impressed when I see a large flock like this under complete control by one herder and one dog:
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The car just has to wait:
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A couple of days later, during my morning ride, I came across the same flock, this time on the pasture where they graze. I don’t know who owns this land, but I assume that there is some kind of arrangement in place between the owner and the farmer. In this image one can see how close this is to the beach in El Campello:
The remaining images are from the office. We had a charity run to support breast cancer research on Friday; and since it was the last Friday of January, we moved our customary “last Friday of the month” mid-day drink to Thursday.
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It is now Thursday lunchtime, and the women bearing wine enter the kitchen, led by Ludmila:
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Many people brought stuff, there was no need to eat lunch that day:
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Conversation I:
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Conversation II:
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Juan doling out warm chorizo:
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Studying the wine:
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Eri poses for me:
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Friday was a momentous and sad day, the last day with the UK as a member of the EU. I got up early and went to the beach before sunrise. I took two photos of the pre-dawn atmosphere, one in colour:
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…and one in black & white:
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At lunchtime, the charity event started. It was a big success, with more than 300 employees taking part in the 5 km run or 2.5 km walk. My participation was limited to donating 20 Euro to the cause and of course taking pictures at the finish line, concentrating on colleagues from my department. This is Nicolas coming in:
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Kasia and Tamara:
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Our German/Venezuelan trainee Altair:
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Charo from Finance:
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Finally, the last time Union Jack could be seen in front of our building. At midnight, it was taken down and replaced with the EU flag (to avoid leaving an empty flagpole). Who knows? Maybe one day we will be putting the Scottish flag here:
